NNSA Blog

Hyde Park Middle School - Blue Team emerged from nine hours of academic competition undefeated as they captured first place in the 2013 Nevada Science Bowl for middle schools recently. Hyde Park won $1000 for their math/science department and an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Nevada in the National Science Bowl in April.

Thousands of students across the country square off in regional science bowl competitions to qualify for the finals of DOE’s annual National Science Bowl, the largest and most prestigious science competition in the U.S.

The competition started with 29 middle school teams squaring off in a fast-paced Jeopardy-style format. 2013 prize winning schools included:

Students from Albuquerque Academy’s Team 1 are headed to the DOE National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., after taking the top spot at the New Mexico Regional Middle School Science Bowl at Albuquerque Academy last Saturday.

More than 130 students from 29 teams representing 12 New Mexico middle schools participated in the annual event. A fast-paced question-and-answer tournament tests students’ knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics and math.

The winning team received an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital to compete against top teams from across the country in late April.

The students representing the first-place team are Harrison Bay, Eric Swiler, Henry Luo, Mark Swiler and team captain Thor Larson, coached by Barbara Gilbert. Second place went to Team 1 from Los Alamos Middle School and third place went to Team 2 from Albuquerque Academy.

Miller thanked the county officials for their active interest in Los Alamos National Laboratory and for their leadership in the community. NNSA recognizes the value of a strong and collaborative relationship with the leadership of its laboratories’ and plants’ communities and appreciates the opportunity to advance the national nuclear security agenda through their partnership.

More than 150 high school students converged on West Texas A&M University for the annual Pantex Science Bowl competition. The competition consisted of 32 teams from schools across the Texas Panhandle and High Plains.

The competition featured teams of four students answering science and math questions in a Jeopardy-style round-robin format, followed by a double elimination tournament. The winner will travel to Washington, D.C., in April to compete with other teams from across the U.S. for the national title.

Around 150 Pantex employees and community volunteers will be on hand to help run the Science Bowl.

Sandia National Laboratories has become a pioneer in large-scale passive optical networks, building the largest fiber optical local area network in the world.

The Sandia network pulls together 265 buildings and 13,000 computer network ports and brings high-speed communication to some of the labs’ most remote technical areas for the first time. The network will save an estimated $20 million over five years through energy and other savings and not having to buy replacement equipment. Sandia expects to reduce energy costs by 65 percent once the network is fully operational.

Sandia, which will spend about $15 million on the project, needs superb computing capability for the problems it tackles as part of its support for the mission for NNSA.

Using equipment that expands on technology funded by NNSA's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program, an international team has achieved the first successful measurement of the spin rate of a supermassive black hole. The team included scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In addition, Livermore’s High Energy Focusing Telescope served as the predecessor to NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, which was used to complete the study. The findings are significant because they enhance scientists' understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve.

About the photo:Above is an artist’s rendering of a supermassive black hole. Matter flowing into the center forms an accretion disk around it and the black hole’s spin creates an outflowing jet of energetic particles.

NNSA Acting Administrator Neile Miller last week hosted New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam while the governors were in Washington, D.C., to attend the National Governors Association winter meeting.

The engagements provided Miller the opportunity to thank the governors for their active and steadfast support of NNSA’s laboratories and plants in their states. NNSA recognizes the central leadership role the governors play in support of the NNSA mission and appreciates the opportunity to advance the national nuclear security agenda to a broader cross-section of the nation.

Y-12 recently held its second annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering event, during which some 400 girls in grades 9–12 from area schools were encouraged to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The girls interacted with women working in the engineering field and experienced hands-on activities at various exhibits hosted by Y-12, ORNL, the University of Tennessee and other engineering organizations.

About the photos:Above, Natalie Layne, Coalfield High sophomore, checks out a ultrasonic detector demonstration at the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at Y-12's New Hope Center. In ultrasonic testing, short ultrasonic pulse-waves are launched into materials to detect internal flaws or to characterize materials.Below, University of Tennessee alumni Dr. Jamie Porter, of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, was the keynote speaker at the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at Y-12's New Hope Center.

Lindsey VanNess, a contract specialist/contracting officer with NNSA's Sandia Field Office (NA-00-SN), was selected as the NNSA Office of Infrastructure and Operations (NA-00) Employee of the Year for 2012. Lindsey is the first NA-00 employee to receive this distinguished recognition.

Lindsey was selected for her exceptional contributions to NNSA including the benchmarking of Department of Energy plans and for crafting guidance resulting in authorship of an Enterprise-implementable Strategic Performance Evaluation Plan (PEP). The PEP will ensure consistency across the enterprise and assess the management and operating contractors on common criteria. Additionally, Lindsey has been a key player on the Sandia Acquisition Strategy Team and the Sandia Source Evaluation Board.

About the photo:Sandia Field Office Manager Geoff Beausoleil presents Lindsey VanNess with the NNSA Office of Infrastructure and Operations (NA-00) Employee of the Year for 2012 award.

Eileen Johnston, assistant manager for Safeguards and Security at the NNSA's Sandia Field Office, was recently awarded the NNSA Silver Medal. Eileen was selected for the award by former NNSA Administrator Tom D'Agostino for her exceptional service and unwavering dedication and commitment to safeguards and security for the NNSA and DOE.

Eileen's leadership and oversight expertise has set the standard for safeguards and security budget development across the Enterprise. Her high-level guidance and direction helped to ensure effective and efficient utilization of safeguards and security funds by Sandia National Laboratories. It is estimated that the cost savings at the site are in excess of $2 million. Eileen has made significant contributions by applying her knowledge and leadership to assist at other NNSA sites as well. Her security subject matter expertise was invaluable in the recent technical evaluation of security performance and past data at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

About the photo:Sandia Field Office Manager Geoff Beausoleil presents Eileen Johnston with the NNSA Silver Medal.